Interview Verhofstadt bij BBC over situatie België

Karen Bowerman: (…) And for a more in-dept review of the situation in Belgium and particularly in Antwerp, we will now switch over to our correspondent Jonny Dymond, who will be briefly interviewing Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt.

Jonny Dymond: Yes, thank you Karen. I’m standing here in the Belgian capital of Brussels with the Belgian Prime Minister, who will be answering questions regarding the recent surge of violence in his country. Good afternoon mister Verhofstadt.

Guy Goma: (Face of horror) Ehr, hello, good day to you.

Jonny Dymond: Mister Prime Minister: with the recent surge of racist violence in your country, what are your views on how the situation will develop, and what policy choices will you take to prevent any future violence of this kind?

Guy Goma: I am very surprised to see.. this violence come from Belgium, I was not expecting that. When I came they told me something else and I am coming. You got an interview that’s all. So a big surprise anyway.

Jonny Dymond: A big surprise, yeah, yes. And it must have come as a shock to all. During the recent years, Belgium seemed to be free of violent eruptions like the recent killings in Antwerp. Do you have an explanation for the sudden eruption these last few weeks?

Guy Goma: Well I think that these horrible and cowardly crimes are a form of extreme racism. We have to avoid our society being sucked into a spiral of violence. The police and the judicial system will do all that is needed for justice to be done, and I will talk about this matter with our president.

Jonny Dymond: (Surprised) Your president? But to my knowledge Belgium is still a monarchy, isn’t it?

Guy Goma: Exactly.

Jonny Dymond: Yes. Well, let’s continue with another question. Sources in the media report that after killings in Antwerp there are certain webbased communities that are openly supporting the actions of Hans Van Themsche. What actions is the government planning to take to crack down on these websites?

Guy Goma: Actually if you can walk everywhere you are going to see a lot of people chatting the internet and the website and everything they want. But I think eh it is much better for development and eh to inform people what they want and to get the easy way and so faster if they are looking for. You can go everywhere on the cyber cafe and you can take, you can go easy. It is going to be an easy way for everyone to get something to the internet.

Jonny Dymond: Thank you for your comments mister Verhofstadt. Thanks very much indeed.